In Brightest Day
by Bazinga1001001
Summary: "In Brightest Day, In Blackest Night, love just might be in someone's sight."  It's not that Sheldon and Penny are hiding their feelings, they just don't know that any exists... yet.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I started this a while ago (and I've only seen bits of Season 4) and just now decided to post it. It starts off a bit paragraph-y to open the story, then it become more conversational. I've already started the other chapters, but I want to hear what you think so far in case I want to do some editing. Reviews welcome! This will switch from one point of view to another. We begin with Penny.

I own nothing...

Chapter 1 – The Cutie Quandary

"Is it me?" Penny asked out loud to no one but herself as she lifted another spoonful of ice cream to mouth. She didn't particularly like this brand of ice cream, but it was the same kind Sheldon brought to cheer her up after the whole Leonard-confessing-his-love-for-her-before-she-was-ready thing. OK, so it was a bribe to get her to cream "One-L" Wil What's-his-face in bowling, but it still cheered her up.

"It must be me," she confessed with her mouthful.

Penny knew she was attractive, no matter how Mid-Western her face looked, and she knew she was likable as she had plenty of friends, but why was it that she couldn't hold on to any relationship or have one mean anything? Everyone else around her seems to be in fulfilling relationships. Take Leonard for example. He's not exactly what Penny would call a hot guy and isn't quite what society claimed to be "normal," however, he still snagged Priya, his gorgeous, successful girlfriend. Howard is engaged to an amazingly sweet girl and a great friend of hers. Penny cringed. Of all people, Howard, _HOWARD_, found true love and she couldn't. Even Sheldon, who has no people skills what-so-ever, managed to find what can only be described as his soul mate. Penny also cringed at the thought of Sheldon and Amy for possibly no particular reason. Maybe it was the cold of the ice cream. She liked Amy enough, once she was able to look past her weird quirks and science-y jibber-jabber. But Penny often feels a slight hint of jealously when days go by without her hearing Sheldon's _triple knock_, "Penny," _triple knock_, "Penny," _triple knock_, "Penny." She was his go-to girl when he needed her help with something. Usually it was some social conundrum that had his beautiful mind puzzled or that he didn't want to be alone when he was sick. He has Amy now. Raj, she thought, was just as lonely as her, but he has more issues than Sheldon's comic book collection, so she quickly brushed that from her mind.

Penny put the lid back on the ice cream container to save some for her next pity party scheduled for bed time. Sleeping alone was the one thing she hated most. Most of the guys she brought home were just for the sake of cuddling, nothing more. She wiped her face and decided to see what the guys across the hall were getting into tonight. Penny wanted to ditch her pitiful bedtime plans and was even willing to watch Battling with the Stars or Dr. What-his-name, or even Baba…. Baba…. Bologna Five or whatever show Leonard likes but Sheldon hates. She should really pay more attention to what they talk about. No wonder they've all moved on to other sources of female interaction. Penny thought of the time Sheldon came to her at The Cheesecake Factory for advice on how to get Howard to forgive him. The look on his face when she impressed him with her Star Trek factoid was more than enough to make Penny want to do it again. That doesn't mean she'll go as far as watching it ever again just to pick up some measly trivia, but she liked impressing Sheldon whenever she could simply because it wasn't easy to impress that man.

Penny half-skipped across the hall, grabbed the guys' door knob expecting to let herself in as she always has, but this time she was stopped short by nearly ramming her face into their locked door. A locked door could only mean one of two things; both Leonard and Sheldon were out of the apartment, or Sheldon has locked himself safely behind the doors so to protect him, and his comic books, from potential burglars. He had an on/off fear of being alone in the apartment after someone broke in and took his beloved nerd gadgets. She could hear Sheldon typing furiously away at his laptop, so she decided to have a little fun.  
><em>Triple knock<em>, "Sheldon." _Triple knock_, "Shel-," but before she could continue the sequence, Sheldon was at the door.

"Hello, Penny." Sheldon said with a slight squeak in his voice. He sounded pleased with himself.

"You didn't even let me finish knocking." Typical Sheldon. Efficient. Doesn't like to leave anyone waiting.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Sheldon started to close the door, but was stopped short.

"Sheldon, forget about it. Whatcha doin'?" Penny asked in a sing-song as she walked past Sheldon and over to his desk. He quickly followed.

"I'm in the process of typing out a strongly-worded email to Leslie Winkle. See, here I used all CAPS, and here I typed in _italicized_ capital letters. I think if I emphasize the offensive words with all capital letters, I'll convey the tone of yelling and if I italicize the superlative adjectives, it will add an extra _oomph._"

"Oomph?"

"Oomph!" he replied with a jerk of the fist.

"What did she do to you this time?" Penny asked with a giggle.

Sheldon gave her a double-take and a sigh as if he couldn't believe she hadn't asked him sincerely.

"She sent out a campus-wide email advising everyone they needed to be checked for S.C. D. and that it was the main cause of the current coccydynia epidemic for which she recently tested positive. " Sheldon answered angrily and walked over to the refrigerator for a bottle of water. "That sounds awful!" "I know. That's why I'm replying with strongly-worded email." "No, I mean Leslie, poor girl." Her reaction annoyed Sheldon. "What is S.C. D.?"

"Sheldon Cooper Disease," he huffed in a child-like manner.

Penny laughed and let out a long "aw." She found that when Sheldon regressed into a pouty little boy, she just wanted to hug him and protect him from the big, bad world. She could just imagine his eyes growing wide at first, and then twisting up into rapid twitches, not sure how to react to the invasion of his personal space. She liked that Sheldon let her mother him from time to time. That's something Amy didn't, or probably couldn't provide. She wasn't exactly a comforting person, but Penny was, and Sheldon appreciated it. He was never too proud to thank her.

Penny squinted at the screen and tried to sound out cocc-y-dyn-i-a.

"What's that?"

"A pain in her ass." He slammed the bottle down on the counter. Penny couldn't help but laugh.

"Aw, sweetie, she just likes to push your buttons. Why don't you try not responding? Don't let her get the best of you. Leslie won't be able to handle it."

"Disregard her disdainful insults towards me and my work? Hmm," genuinely considering her theory. "The old 'cold shoulder' trick. Make her feel like she's not deserving of distraction and that my work is far more significant than exchanging meaningless and juvenile emails, unlike _her_ work, which is obviously child's play, at best." He paused. "Ooh! That's a good one! I'll italicize 'child's play.' No, CAPS!"

He raced over to his computer, but Penny stepped in between him and his chair.

"No, no, no." Penny said as she pushed him toward the couch. She was dead set on not spending another night alone in her messy apartment, but she'll be damned if she were going to spend it listening to Sheldon pound away at his keyboard to Leonard and Howard's old flame.

Sheldon sat contently in his spot on the couch, Penny at least a seat and a half away on the other end. She offered to take part in one of his less-than-cool, ok, downright nerdy video games. Not enough people for teams. They could play Super Mario on N64. It wasn't Wednesday. They could play anyway. It wasn't Anything Can Happen Thursday. At this time of the day, "prevening" if you will, neither Penny nor Sheldon were ready to eat dinner. Besides, Sheldon and Amy would most likely have dinner together via webcam later and Penny wanted no part in that. It's amazing that that even when Amy is not physically in the room, Penny still felt like the third wheel. She sighed. Sheldon snapped a look her way and hopped up from his spot towards the kitchen. With his Green Lantern shirt on, he looked like a tall, lanky grasshopper.

"What are you doing?" she said quite startled.

"You sighed. I'm making you tea."

"Sheldon. " She paused, shrugged, and let him continue to make her tea. He wouldn't take no for an answer had she told him it was unnecessary as he was content with it being some sort of mandatory social convention. However, that's not why she didn't stop him. She liked having someone care for her from time to time. She knew deep down, past his personal bubble, though his brick wall of social phobia and awkwardness he had a heart that could grow up to three sizes on some days.

He held out her hot cup of tea. He knew just how she likes it, in one of Leonard's oversized mugs that one must grip with both hands, probably made for soup. Penny smiled and their hands met when she reached out. She expected Sheldon to say something long-winded. He didn't. He didn't even utter a "there, there," he just stared into her eyes. Surprisingly, his hands felt warm and comfortable underneath hers. Maybe it had something to do with some sort of transference of heat energy, or conduction-something-or-other Sheldon tried explaining once, but she definitely didn't feel what was expected – a cold-to-the-touch robot-man. He stared into her eyes, but not the look he gives her when she says something he doesn't agree with or that he thinks is stupid. It was a very relaxed, deep look. Penny blinked away from his gaze, taking possession of the mug. She must be the only girl in the world who worries about a guy noticing if her eyes were dilating or if her pulse rate was elevated.

Sheldon sat back down.

"Thank you, Sheldon." Penny said with a smile. "You know, you probably make a pretty good boyfriend."

Sheldon looked perplexed. He probably didn't understand the compliment. She didn't mean that he would make a good friend that's a boy. She meant a good boyfriend, no slashes no dashes.

"Sarcasm?" he asked genuinely, completely understanding her meaning.

"No honey, not sarcasm. You bring me tea or ice cream when I'm sad. You rescued me when I dislocated my shoulder and sang with me in bed. You loaned me money when I was facing financial doom. You helped me with my awful business idea." Her voice trailed in that et cetera kind of way. "You're always there for me, Sheldon." She paused to let their eyes meet. "Plus, you're kind of cute."

Penny scooted closer and touched his arm. She decided that she hoped her eyes _were_ dilated and that he _would_ notice if they were. Instead he looked down at her hand and thanked her. Hang on a minute, she thought. What was she doing? Was she just hitting on Sheldon Cooper? _Doctor_ Sheldon _Lee_ Cooper? He didn't seem to mind or have anything to analyze out loud. He just listened and watched her thumb brush his forearm. She quickly snapped herself out of it and checked the contents of mug for experimental drugs before taking a giant gulp of tea. That was strange.


	2. Chapter 2

**Note: We move on to Sheldon's point of view... This, again, is only to get the story rolling. I promise more conversation soon and longer chapters when necessary.**

The Cutie Quandary Part 2

That was strange.

Not because Penny's hands became clammy from holding the tea cup, thus giving Sheldon an ever-lasting sensation of someone else's perspiration on his skin when she pulled away. Not because he only _slightly_ minded the feeling of someone sweat on him without wanting to bathe in antibacterial soap and sanitizer.

What was strange was that he had noticed Penny's eyes dilate, the tip of the one exposed ear holding back her hair had reddened, and he was sure he someone's pulse speed up. Sheldon was never quite sure what to make of certain social interactions. Penny touches him all the time, he thought. But never like that, so close all the while looking into his eyes and calling him cute. He couldn't possibly meet her gaze for whatever reason.

He doesn't have a problem with looking any one directly in the eye, in fact he just had, but suddenly Penny brought out a shyness he wasn't used to. Sure, crowds and sometimes big guys who had Sheldon on their list make him nervous, but this was different. He couldn't explain it, which was rather atypical of someone who was just nationally recognized for his web lecture on thermal distribution of black holes at Caltech.

He thinks, given the subtle lowering of her vocal register, her adjustment of body language – the closer proximity, knees directed toward him, the way she tilted her head downward while looking up from under her brow, one could call it "flirting." But what did he know? He struggled with picking up on sarcasm.

"I could use some new sheets," he said, breaking the silence.

"Grape juice?"

"Apple juice... Makes it look like pee," he pouted.

Penny laughed and he was unaware that she held back the urge to hug that little boy inside him.

"Fine," she said, slapping her knees. "We'll go to mall."

"No shoes."

She signed. "No shoes. But I do need to go to Bath & Body Works. I'm out of body wash."

"How on, as my mother would say, 'God's green earth' are you out of body wash? I gave you 48 bottles for Christmas not too long ago. Factor in the innumerable times you showered here like we were operating some all-inclusive bed and breakfast, it's highly improbable that you would be out of body wash already." Of course, he knew it was possible, but still highly implausible.

"A lot of it was lotion, Sheldon."

"Oh... Alright. Let me just my nose plugs."

"For what?" she squeaked.

"Penny, I've been to a similar "smelly-good" store before," he said with raised brows and guesturing air-quotes. "That place plays host to a compound of malodorous fragrances that release all hell on my nasal passages."

"Really? Why don't you whipped out the ol' pocket protector too." she asked sarcasically yet light-heatedly.

"Oh I'm sorry. You're right, my olfactory receptors won't mind bein' man-handled by coconut covered strawberry-lime and linens swayin' in the Chlorophyta algea-covered sea breeze. And I'm sure my pharyngeal reflexes won't mind joinin' the fun either." Sheldon twanged. "Bazinga. That was sarcasm. Gagging is painful, Penny."

"Oh, go on then," Penny said as she threw her hands up, half smiling.

"And by the way, I can't wear pocket protector because my Green Lantern shirt doesn't feature pockets. Even if it did, I still couldn't because I don't curently possess one. Mama didn't raise no nerd."

Penny giggled as Sheldon rushed to his bedroom to grab his nose plugs which were lying on his dresser. He had just had to use them yesterday when Raj thought it would be amusing to add milk to Leonard's oatmeal. How inconsiderate, he thought. After all, Sheldon was the one who had to deal with the aftermath.

Sheldon tucked the plugs into his pocket, paused, then took them back out and placed them back on his dresser. Sheldon remembered the time Penny helped him prepare for his big speech by picking out a ridiculous suit for him to wear. To her, looking socially acceptable was more important than what may end up being a hostile attack on his olfactory system. Not that Sheldon cares what he looks like most of the time, but he wouldn't want to embarrass Penny if she were to encounter any of her friends.

When he walked out of his bedroom, he found Penny sitting at his desk, closing his laptop.

"What were you doing?" he asked suspiciously.

"Nothing. Let's go."

Sheldon fought the urge to check and see if his operating systems were still in working order. It took him hours to reinstall all of them, not that he would mind doing it again rather than going to the mall.

"Come on, Sheldon."

He took one last glance at his laptop and followed Penny out.

He knew good and well that he could hardly ever say no to Penny, or to new sheets. What was this hold she had on him?


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Again, switches from Penny to Sheldon, but within the same chapter this time.**

**CHAPTER 2**  
><strong>The Unnatural Selection<strong>

**-PENNY-**

The way to the mall with Sheldon was almost enough to make her turn the car around and kick him to the curb. "Speeding" this and "check engine light" that, but the three of them – her, Sheldon, and her car made it there in one piece. She can't completely complain, though, because she did get him to sing with her in the car. He put up a tiny fight, but he can't seem to say no to her. Penny, of course, would never take advantage of that if it would somehow hurt him, but it did tickle her a little.

"Do you want to part ways and go get your toiletries while I visually search for acceptable and satisfactory new sheets?" Sheldon asked quietly.

Penny frowned in question. She may or may not have detected a hint of insecurity in his voice and the way he stood with his head down and hands behind his back.

"No, that defeats the whole purpose of coming together. Let's go get your sheets first, and then we'll get my body wash. That way, if the smells are over-powering we can make a mad dash to the exit doors."

They began their journey to the only house-ware store that Sheldon declared had the best linens.

"Thank you. That's very considerate. And I must apologize in advance for my lengthy decision-making process."

"I had to buy Leonard new sheets. They're hypoallergenic and pretty comfy."

"No, I can't have the same sheets as him."

"Why not?" she asked.

"I can't risk having our sheets mixed up in the laundry. Good lord, woman. You don't know me at all."

Suddenly, someone's stray kid popped out of now where, tripping Penny. Her fall was broken by the quick thinking of Sheldon. She was instantly aware of one of his large hands on her stomach. Her shirt had bunched a little under the pressure, causing more than half of his hand to come in contact with her bear skin. From fingertip to the top of his wrist, his soft hands nearly covered her entire midriff. Penny had also caught herself on his extending arm. There was a hint of man in that arm, she noticed, and she inadvertently gave it a soft squeeze. Sheldon helped her regain her upright posture and backed off.

"Alright?" Sheldon asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine. People really need to watch their kids. Let's go."

As the two began walking, Penny noticed that her feet were moving but only one of her shoes went with her. Apparently when the kid popped out in front of her, he had flat-tired her shoe, breaking the straps on one of her flip flips. Silence rushed over them as they both looked down at her floppy flip flop.

"You promised," Sheldon demanded. "No shoes."

"Sheldon, this isn't my fault," Penny pleaded. "Do you expect me to walk around the mall with one flip flop?"

He signed. "I suppose not. Judging by the dry, shriveled sponge mop I saw leaning against the vending machines, and the adjacent upside down bucket, I can only assume these floors haven't seen so much as a molecule of water and/or disinfectant... And your cracked, callused feet would be a perfect breeding ground for all that bacteria."

She was appalled. OK, so it's been awhile since her last pedicure, but he didn't have to point it out.

"Shut it, Smelly Pooper!" she hissed to which he responded with a double take. "I'm going to get some new flip flops. Are you coming or not?"

"No, thank you. Call me when you're ready to look at sheets."

"Why don't you just go now?"

"That would defeat the purpose of us coming together," he said, mocking Penny's previous statements. "Besides, the first thing one does when one has to pick out new sheets is to feel the quality and texture of the material."

"Yeah, so?"

"So? Can you imagine all the bacteria and human body soil that has accumulated over the weeks, sometimes months of being fondled on a department store shelf? I might as well walk around on this floor with my hands, Penny... You have to test the quality and texture for me, hence my former suggestion to visually search for acceptable and satisfactory sheets," he said in long, confusing, Sheldon way of saying 'Duh!'

"I don't care what the test results said, you're crazy! Anyway, I'll call you when I'm done."

Penny and Sheldon parted ways, and she tip-toed across the mall floor.

She decided that if she can't afford a pedicure at the moment, she couldn't afford a bunch of new shoes. How sad.

Penny was in and out of the store in a matter of minutes and immediately popped on her new flip flips. On the way to their designated meeting spot, a green emblem caught Penny's eye from a little display right inside the toy store. She recognized it as a miniature version of the lantern Sheldon owned and the lantern that was represented by a circle caught between two horizontal lines on Sheldon's shirt. It was a nightlight.

"Cute," she actually said out loud.

She remembered the time Sheldon tried and succeeded in making luminous nightlight fish. Unfortunately for the fish, they all died the next morning, but the light show in the bathroom was pretty entertaining when they flushed them down the toilet in the dark. She snickered and decided to buy it for Sheldon for no reason other than impulse and because she thought he might like it. He probably expected her to take much longer than she actually did, so she thought she would also spare him any nostril hostility by going to pick out her body wash alone.

**The Unnatural Selection - Part 2**

-SHELDON-

Sheldon wandered aimlessly around the mall. He refused to go to the video game store. The employees lack far too much knowledge on far too many video games and it made Sheldon feel uncomfortable purchasing anything from those self-proclaimed "experts." He walked by the display in the toy store, noting that one day he would be back to buy that Green Lantern lantern night light, next time. Instead, he found himself in what looked Frankenstein's laboratory for stuffed teddy bears. He felt uneasy. Had it been a laboratory for stuffed monkeys, he would have been fine, but bears terrify him.

"Hi." He said nervously to a little girl who was picking out a frilly, pink dress for her unstuffed new plush friend.

"Hi! Are you making a bear too?" the little girl asked.

"No, bears are terrifying," Sheldon said with a cringe.

"I'm not afraid of bears," she said innocently.

"That's only because you're only a child, and you are incapable of making rational, adult decisions about safety and precautions. And may I add," his tone changing to that of someone who is speaking with an adult, "that's no excuse. Do you know what I was doing when I was your age?"

She didn't give him the pleasure of answering his own rhetorical question. Instead, she lifted her half-dressed bear up towards his face.

"She's not scary," the girl said with a calm, little voice and wide eyes.

He cringed again.

"Too bad there aren't any monkeys. No one is afraid of monkeys."

"Oh, look," the little girl said enthusiastically.

The girl grabbed Sheldon by his shirt and dragged over to the wall of unstuffed animals. She picked out a light, classic brown and tan unstuffed monkey.

"Aw, a monkey. I thought one only "builds bears" here," questioning the name of the store and using air quotes.

"We have to dress him!" she said and Sheldon instantly followed her lead.

The girl looked him up and down and raced over to the boy-bear clothes. Sheldon couldn't have been more pleased.

"The Green Lantern. It matches mine perfectly! Good luck finding pants to match mine."

She was a girl on a mission and he actually enjoyed looking through the miniature clothes for plaid pants. The pair they chose weren't exactly like the puke-colored ones Sheldon was wearing, but it will have to do. At the register, he was asked if he wanted to record something that would play every time he pressed the hand. He hesitated, but the girl gave him the look that every other woman or girl in his life gives him and he knows it means that he better do as he told, or else. Obeying the unwritten rule, Sheldon went into a corner and recorded a message into the tiny recording device.

The cashier held a hand to her heart and nearly welled up.

"Daddy, do you want to name him?" the clerk asked him.

"Daddy? I'm no one's father. This little girl is not my offspring. We just met 10 minutes ago."

Suddenly, a woman's angry voice called from behind him.

"There you are! We've been looking all over for you!" the woman said loudly.

The woman, from what he could gather, must have been the girl's mother. She gave him a disgusted look and he had no idea her reasoning. Why, he thought, is he capable of successfully prognosticating the duration of his friends' relationships based causality alone, but he couldn't deduce the meaning behind that woman's upturned lip and loud "ugh" sound.

The cashier gasped and gave Sheldon the same disgusted look as the mother.

"Mister, what do you want to name your monkey?" the clerk asked again, popping her gum and completely changing her kind and polite demeanor to that of a snappy teenager.

"Doctor," he stated dryly.

"You want to name him "Doctor?"

"No, you called me Mister. I have two PhD's therefore I am a doctor."

She popped her gum again.

"Just name him Shelly," he huffed.

"Shelly?"

"Doctor Shelly," he said putting his head down.

On the way back to meet Penny, Sheldon noticed a tiny office supply store. He perked up with a straightening of his back. He had a brilliant idea, which was inevitable as all his ideas are brilliant. The office supply store oddly made him think of Penny and he suddenly couldn't wait to see her. Excitement filled Sheldon's body and it wasn't even new comic book day.


	4. Chapter 4

**The "Just Because" Juxtaposition  
>-PENNY-<strong>

Penny assisted Sheldon in his long process of picking the perfect sheets. He is prone to this, and this color combination causes vertigo that. She actually longed for the car ride home. He did thank her in the car for considering his olfactory system. He mentioned not bringing his nose plugs in case they made her uncomfortable in the presence of possible encounters with friends which Penny feel a little bad.

"You don't embarrass me, sweetie. We're BFFs and I don't care what anyone says about you or about me hanging out with you, and you shouldn't either." Penny said in all seriousness.

"Thank you…. Penny?" he began sweetly.

"Yeah?"

"You know you should really get your engine examined."

She signed. It was only then, when she was desperate to change the subject, that she noticed his extra bag.

"What's that?" she said, gesturing towards his bags.

"Oh, good. I'm glad you noticed. I'm not good at concealing things nonchalantly. But I can't tell you until we get to my apartment."

"OK, well I can't tell you that I bought you a gift," she said teasing him, hoping it would get him to spill the beans.

She was sure it was some stupid video game or DVD box set including director's cuts and deleted scenes and alternate endings and blah, blah, blah.

"You bought me a gift? Why?" He didn't ask her as though he were offended, like she had just given him another obligation. For once, it was just a question.

"Just because." Penny took her eyes off the road just long enough to flash him a smile.

"Just because, what?" he asked, keeping his eyes glued to the road and gently applying the imaginary breaks.

"Because you're one of my Bee. Eff. Effs," she grunted, nudging his elbow with each letter.

Sheldon really had become one of her best friends. She couldn't deny that they had some sort of weird connection. Sheldon, having had to grow up so fast, needed to be mothered sometimes, and Penny was quite the mothering type. Oddly, Sheldon made her feel needed and that made Penny feel good. He was still putting some effort into their friendship unlike most of her friends. He still sought advice from Penny and still listened to her problems, even though he usually hates listening to other people. She and the girls even convinced Sheldon to go dancing after he claimed that given an infinite amount of universes, in not one of them would he be dancing. She smiled thinking about his so-called waltzing around with Amy, but her inner voice quickly turned on her happy thoughts. Amy – that lucky b**ch.

**The "Just Because" Juxtaposition Part 2  
>-SHELDON-<strong>

Sheldon once saw "BFF" written on the back on one of Penny's pictures on her refrigerator. Penny had to explain the acronym, which aggravated Sheldon as one can't possibly be friends another mortal human being forever if by "forever" she meant an infinite or limitless amount of time. Once one or both said friends are deceased, the perceived friendship ceases to exist between the two. Sheldon left it at that when Penny threatened to call his mother and tell her that he doesn't believe there to be friends in heaven.

Sheldon thought about her last statement, "Because you're one of my BFFs." He wasn't aware that she considered him a _best_ friend, but it delighted him to know that she did. His best friend had been Leonard for nearly a decade. He knew his dietary plan and his inflexible schedule. Now, Penny knew all these things, possibly to a greater degree than Leonard. She was capable of getting his food orders correct more often than Leonard. Could Sheldon ever get Leonard to sing Soft Kitty or to rub VapoRub® counter-clockwise on his chest when he was sick? No, he could hardly get Leonard to stay home and make him soup. And Leonard never cut up hot dogs and put them in his spaghetti. Most important of all, she wards off anyone who tries to sit in his spot and has successfully grasped, in detail, the reasoning behind his selection.

Sheldon's brain raced and as he thought about it more and more, he supposed then that Penny was one of his best friends as well. He trusted her.

When they arrived back at his apartment, Sheldon was anxious to get his gift. Normally he didn't like receiving gifts because that meant reciprocating the gesture with far too many factors to consider, but this time he was exultant. Sheldon excused himself to the restroom only to put some final touches on the plush monkey before revealing his creation. Credit to the little girl was unnecessary, of course, being that she wouldn't have picked out the monkey or the clothes if Sheldon had not mentioned monkeys or worn that outfit.

When he returned, he sat next to Penny on the sofa. He had a brief flashback of what prompted their impromptu mall visit. The feeling slightly unsettled him, so he stood up and moved to the kitchen. Penny followed, no questions asked.

"Here," Penny said holding out a bag for Sheldon. "Open it. It's not much, but I thought you would like it."

Sheldon removed the Green Lantern nightlight from its paper bag.

"Oh, Neat! The Green Lantern lantern nightlight! How did you know I wanted this?"

"Lucky guess." Penny squeaked with excitement.

Sheldon examined the nightlight.

"Why don't you just call it a 'Green Lantern nightlight?'" she asked.

Because it's a Green Lantern _lantern_ nightlight." Sheldon demanded.

"But it's a Green _Lantern_ nightlight," she said emphasizing the "lantern" while taping the packaging.

Sheldon rolled his eyes and saved his breath. He refrained from explaining the Power Battery in the form of a lantern and the Green Lantern Corps and its members known as Green Lanterns. It would only be an open invitation for her to go on about how "hot" she thought Ryan Reynolds was in the latest superhero flop... Not as bad as Daredevil, mind you, but slightly disappointing.

"So, what did you buy?" Penny said before he could change his mind.

"It's for you. Open it."

"You... you bought me a gift?" Penny asked completely befuddled.

"I had no intentions of purchasing a gift for you, Penny," he said bluntly. "However, when we parted ways at the mall, I found myself in a rather unusual encountering with a little girl. I somehow ended up following her around a store for nearly ten minutes." Penny blinked. Sheldon's tone changed. "I enjoyed my time with her until her vociferous mother took her away and the cashier gave me the evil eye. At that point, I had no use for this, but I bought it anyway so as to not have wasted my time and efforts …. and because I thought you might like it considering your agglomeration of faux taxidermic knick-knacks."

Penny blinked again. There was no second thought on Sheldon's part on how messed up that story may sounded to her. He just figured his explanation had gone over her head. Typical. She took the bag from Sheldon's hands, and inside she found a box in the shape of a little house. She opened the box and pulled out a brown and tan, plush monkey fully dressed in an outfit she recognized right away.

"Aw, a monkey! And he's dressed like you with a little green shirt and plaid pants. He even has a white board... with math on it! Thank you!" she exclaimed.

"You're welcome," he said dryly yet sweetly.

"It's adorable, Sheldon!"

"Naturally. It's a monkey that's been whimsically dressed to the likes of me," he proclaimed with a posh roll to the back of his heels.

Penny shook her head and smiled.

"What is this, another spoof of The Bourne Supremacy Effect?" Penny asked without irony.

Sheldon actually laughed. It was his usual breathy laugh, just longer and more animated. He knew she really had no clue what she was talking about, but she tried and it actually amused him.

"I believe you meant to say the 'Born-Oppenheimer Approximation,' but no. However, I must say I'm impressed that you recall one of our first conversations, Penny."

It's not as impressive as knowing that their first conversation occurred on September 24, 2007, but still impressive for a woman with the attention span of a gnat.

"Of course I remember, as strange as it was, you used it to flirt with me," she said, playfully poking at his chest.

Sheldon shook his head, but never vocally denied it.

"Anyway, the variables and structure would likely frustrate any mathematician or scientist, but since you are neither, I assume you will be looking at this with a layman eye and would understand the semiotics of it." He took one arm of the monkey so that they were both holding him.

"u + m(e) = F ∞"was written on the tiny white board.

"So, what does it mean?" Penny asked and looked up to a hovering Sheldon. She laughed.

Sheldon was unaware that he was smiling and blushing until Penny called him on it, claiming that it was the same look he gave her when he first showed her his own board.

Slightly unncomfortable, he pulled himself together and pointed at the equation, then explained, "You and me are friends forever."

Penny placed a hand to her chest and let out a soft, "huh?"

Sheldon wondered for a moment if she was experiencing some sort of asmatic trama, but then she took a long, deep breath and looked up at him from behind lacrimating eyes. Perhaps she was experiencing angina symptoms or heartburn from the spicey cheese she used on her pretzle at the mall.

"Oh my goodness, sweetie. What made you do all this? It's not my birthday..." her voice trailed when he took a pen out of his pocket and wrote:

"Y = Just Because."

She read it out loud as it if were a game of Mad Gab, "Why equals just because."

Penny stared at the words for what felt like a whole minute. Good Lord, surely she was capable of interpreting the very expression she had given him. The tears were descending faster and all Sheldon could do was watch, unsure of what he should do.

She took the monkey in her arms squeezedit with all her might, burying her face in its fur-like fibers for a moment. It was remincent of the long and noisey nights when Leonard would cry and hug the pillow Penny used after they broke up. Before Sheldon could fully analyze her reaction to his gift, and without a single blip of cognitive reasoning, Penny grabbed Sheldon by the Green Lantern symbol, yanked him close and pressed her lips onto his.


End file.
